TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - The effect of direct and indirect exposure to violence on youth survival expectations
JO  - Journal of Adolescent Health
A1  - Warner, Tara D.
A1  - Swisher, Raymond R.
SP  - 817
EP  - 822
VL  - 55
IS  - 6
N2  - PURPOSE: Research finds that adolescents gravely overestimate their risk of death and that these pessimistic attitudes correlate with risky behaviors undermining health and well-being; however, it remains unclear why adolescents have negative expectations about their survival. Because youth are most likely to be exposed to violence (as victims and/or witnesses), perhaps these experiences are key in undermining expectations about the future. We explored the effect of direct and indirect exposures to violence-across various contexts-on adolescents' survival expectations. <br><br>METHODS: Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we tested the effect of violent experiences: individual direct and vicarious violence, familial and relational violence, school violence, and community violence on adolescents' expectations of surviving to 35 years of age. <br><br>RESULTS: Victims of childhood physical abuse were less likely to expect to survive to 35 years of age. Although not significant at the conventional p <.05 level, violent victimization (being jumped, cut/stabbed, shot, or threatened with a weapon) and intimate partner violence were marginally associated with decreased survival expectations (p <.10). School and community violence undermined expectations at the bivariate level, but became nonsignificant after adjustments for individual demographic characteristics. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Violent victimization in childhood and adolescence is a public health issue with both immediate and long-term consequences. Violence exposure severely compromises individuals' optimism about the future and places them at risk for behaviors that can further undermine well-being. Practitioners should be mindful of diminished survival expectations as a less overt consequence of exposure to violence.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1054-139X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.06.019
ID  - ref1
ER  -